What's Next?

I am SO inspired to do something absolutely crazy and creative and epic. Beautiful for God.

He has placed within me such a passion. I'm discovering what it is I'm truly passionate about. My ethos. He is instilling His message within me and I am discovering the desire of His heart for mine.

I will continue to pursue the Maker. The Divine Creator.

Where will I go? What will I do? It's all up to Him. Show me what's next Father. I'll go.

Connected - A Sister Story

Tomorrow is Father’s day. And I love my Daddy so hard!

However. I have the inkling to write an I-Love-my-sister post.


So.


Daddy, I adore you and you are absolutely worthy of a day all to yourself. I miss you and will call you tomorrow. =)


Until then:



J****** E******** M*****

Forgive me, I just watched “National Treasure.” :)

I love you sister.

You inspire me to be a better big sister and a better woman. You are so strong and beautiful. I am so delighted to be part of your life and wish we could be closer geographically!! I can’t believe it’s already gotten to the point in our lives where we have to call each other because we live in different states! That wasn’t supposed to happen in my mind until we stopped playing Pocahontas in the backyard! (I want to be Nakoma – the pretty friend who catches Pocahontas in the cornfield. ;)

I miss you baby sister and you’ll never know how much you mean to me and how excited I am to see you grow into the most marvelous sPICamore tree.

Love you Jourdan,
Jessica

-----

WATCH THIS MOVIE! It made me want to cry and laugh SO hard at the same time!! I love you wild woman.

Connected

P.S. IS THAT NAKOMA WITH KOKOUM AT THE END!????

AHH!

hilarity.

I'm SINGIN!

This picture pretty much speaks for itself.

But if it really NEEDED a caption, it would most definitely be:

HAPPY PLACE!!!

:)

What's your happy place?

- Jess <><

Wordle - Surrender

As I head into summer, giddy as a pearl-ridden clam, I find myself with all these personal ambitions..

- sew a sundress
- write some music
- get involved
- feed a deer
.
.
.

the list goes on.

And then I feel a little tug on my heartstrings. I can get so comfortable making my own plans.. but really, all I need to do is:



Courtesy of Wordle

My Song

What is my song?

It is a little girl cry of delight as Daddy swoops her up in his strong arms

It is the sigh of a woman deeply in love

It is the desire of a daughter in desperate need of a Savior

It is the howl of a lone wolf longing for his purpose

It is a dip in the waters of grace

It is a sweet smile and timeless gaze


I set my eyes on you King. You are my warrior. I walk towards your light.

You are my one desire. The fire that burns in my soul. I am all Yours. Devoted to YOU FOREVER. YOU are my one and only.

Love, your love,
Jessica

and Yours I remain.

Picture Credit: Hannah on Grace

Kin, Mustache, and Smith - Part II

For a humorous look at the first two parts of Kin, Mustache and Smith, please refer to Part I of this post.

Sunday had more of a spiritual focus – go figure. =)

I went to church in the morning and got absolutely rocked during worship. Ha. Tried to leave early because I thought I had a lot of work to do at home.. good one. I couldn’t make myself leave! I went right back in, got on my knees and ended up crying and surrendering. Hilarious.

Got invited to lunch by a woman in the church who had seen me dancing and wanted to talk to me about worship and get to know me more.. SO awesome! We went to a bomb Mexican restaurant with her daughter and friend Joseph. It was so great. We connected on a lot of levels. It was so nice to be with people who are familiar with the same names and places that I am familiar with through my home church!!

Speaking of connection. In the car on the way to Vallarta’s (that blessed Mexican restaurant), Joseph was playing Kim Walker-Now-SMITH’s album “Here is My Song.” I was reminded how much her music has spoken to me in the past and bought it this morning. It’s rocked my world all today and reminded me how much I love Jesus and worshipping and connections.

Sunday night, I called my mommy and cried like a baby – a big, frustrated, tired baby. It was priceless. Mom talked to me, prayed for me, and we talked through some things that have been really bothering me.

I was holding some things against God, a little angry about the way things turned out, and impatient about My desires for my life. Since then, I have been slowly letting go of my insufficient way and grabbing hold of His life. I was greatly impacted by a blogger named B.J. Hamrick. Read her post “The Test” on her website/blog here. It pierced me and spoke to my struggle deeply.

Still in a funk on Monday, I did NOT want to go to Bible Study with the Sequoia girls. In fact, I DESPERATELY did not want to go. It’s no mistake that the Devil wanted to keep me down and did not want me to go fellowship with other Christians that cared about me! Unfortunately for the Devil, Bible Study is two doors down and so my feet led me to Kirsten and Julia’s room, but my heart was still very hard and unreceiving.

Funny how God knows exactly what you need.

In Bible Study, each woman was placed in the center of the group’s attention and had her life spoken into by the wonderful girls surrounding her. We gave encouraging words, recalled wonderful memories, and listed qualities that we admired in that person. It was INCREDIBLY life-giving not only to receive but also to give. Later that night, we made simple leather bracelets (see below) to remind us of the verse that exhorts us to set our minds on heavenly things.



The girls were pulled so much closer together and our collective love for Jesus majorly increased..

He is becoming enough.

And so, I grow.

I live, I laugh, I love. God has blessed me SO much and I am honored to be His daughter, pleased to be his hands and feet, and so much in love with his Son.

I pray you would find similar joy and peace in our Jesus.

Goodnight!
- Jessica <><

Kin, Mustache, and Smith - Part I

The name of my suave new law firm? Or the summary of an incredible week with friends and Jesus?

Mmm, if you picked the latter, you are correct!

I have had a whirlwind of fun this week that I would just love to tell you about. I’ve split it up into two parts because it was so chock full of fabulous. Hunker down, grab some chocolate, and enjoy..

So my favorite girls in the entire world, namely Lynda and Jourdan Meyers - my best friends and woman family members - came to visit me last Wednesday night. We pretty much crammed as much fun as is possible in a two day period.

Imagine:
1. Crooning with Josh Gracin
2. Getting jiggy with it at line-dancing on Thursday night
3. Waiting in LONG starbucks lines
4. MM! A late-night showing of X-Men: WOLVERINE at the Fremont theatre!
5. Watching athletic college men kicking a soccer ball and each other while sipping peppermint hot chocolate

Epic. To put it lightly.

So, my wonderful other two-thirds left on Saturday morning. I was sad to see them go, but enjoyed a fabulous nap on Saturday afternoon and then a delightful second-to-last weekend in Sequoia Hall!

Friends Tyler and Lauren and I had the BRILLIANT idea to grill salmon fillets for dinner on Saturday. We set down our books, skipped to village market to buy said fillets and proceeded to make the most delectable meal my taste buds have beheld yet in the backyard of Sequoia. Tyler, grill-master that he is, lemon-garlic-ed those fish to tender perfection. We boiled water over the grill (about a twenty-minute endeavor) and made some pasta which we drenched in butter, lemon, more garlic, and some of the "fish juice." I grabbed a little "color" while we were at village market - baby tomatoes to add garnish to the bland colored plate. Forget the tan COLOR, this meal was anything but bland. It was so delicious. Maybe it tasted so good because we had been drooling over it for over an hour... maybe that played a part, but really, wow.

And we haven't even touched on dessert yet. Lauren and I surprised Tyler with a beautiful "bridal shower" concoction that Lauren pulled out of a maid of honor memory. It's so hard to prepare. Ready?

Quarter strawberries but leave attached to green leaves so the flesh forms a pocket around the center. Fill with cream cheese. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Top with powdered sugar. Arrange on a pretty blue plate with blackberries interspersed within and around.

WHY did we not take a picture?

I really don't know. Honestly, I have no idea.

Suffice to say, it was an incredible meal with awesome friends.

So that was, umm, ONE highlight of Saturday. The other could be described in words, but I feel it is better represented by a picture:



HA. I’m not sure how this was begun. I think Lauren and I were at the front desk doing something random, and we saw our awkward friend in the TV lounge and decided to dress up as cowboys to surprise him... ?

So Ondrea behind the desk offers to grab these AWESOME mustaches that we could use and I grab my stunna shades and bandanas. Earl and SkunkCatcher were gloriously born. We wow-ed Ricky with our improv skills – cattle-ranching, skunk-catching, dirty-bandit-wrestling… the adventures of Earl and Skunkcatcher are disastrously funny.

Later, we were invited to go get mochas at Peets in Poly Canyon Village with a couple dudes from the study lounge. I think it was our outfits that got us the date. =) We gladly donned our mustaches, mounted our trusty steeds, and made the voyage. Whenst we returned, we popped in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" with wonderful friends Maro and Alyssa and then pulled out the HENNA.

Seriously? Could this night get any better?

Then came Sunday.

If this were a read-along book, the following *ding* would be the signal to turn the page.

*ding*

- Jessica <><